n2al | N2AL | Amateur Extra Class Operator

Today is the first opportunity this year to drive what many around the world call The Tail of the Dragon! While off work today I took the chance to take my Honda Civic to Deal’s Gap store inside North Carolina, and turn around. A good friend of mine, Al otherwise known as WA4HSM, has a photography business called Moonshine Photo, and he sits on US Hwy 129 near Calderwood Dam, and snaps photos of cars and motorcycles on the Dragon. I recommend checking out his website at moonshinephoto.com and see what pictures you can find of yourself!

Al told me about the old community of Calderwood, where people who worked at the dam lived. I took a moment to drive through the delapitated community, which is open Monday – Friday until 3 pm, and viewed where the old houses and churches stood. A few buildings are still standing and they are quite remarkable. This also happens to be a nature reserve and the wildlife is bountiful! I had the chance to see deer and turkey, and while no bears were spotted, beware if you are in the mountains as many live in the woods.

On my way back towards civilization I took a moment to stop and marvel at the Little Tennessee River. Currently (as of today, Friday, August 12, 2016) repairs to Calderwood Dam have forced the company that owns the three dams on the river to drop the water level. I rememver when this was initally done the police found a bounty of cars and other items discarded in the river, that some parties probably wish were still underwater. Ha who knows, maybe Jimmy Hoffa is at the bottom of the river.

I took Foothills Parkway back to Maryville and enjoyed the drive through the mountains and nature. I do recommend careful driving as some drivers choose to drive recklessly, but law enforcement stay on the Dragon to keep them in proper check.

Another reason for driving the Dragon was to see how well simplex radio communications were received a distance away in Philadelphia. To our surprise and joy it received quite well! The only place that had difficulty via simplex and repeater was at Deal’s Gap store, located just inside North Carolina. Transmissions were still readable, although with significant static and difficulty. But along the Dragon, radio communications to the W4YJ, 145.250 MHz and KK4DKW, 145.270 MHz repeaters were nearly full quieting the whole trip, and with minimal difficulty. A note to other ham radio operators in the area, these two repeaters can be of assistance while on the Dragon, and all of US Hwy 129 from Tennessee into North Carolina.

Take a look at the pictures below!

After years of being a ham radio operator, and an Extra Class, I have choosen to learn Morse Code. When I was licensed the Morse Code portion of the exam was no longer required, although older hams had to copy Morse Code to obtain their equivalant licenses of Technician, General, and Extra class.

But a few things lead me to make the decision to learn Morse Code. A few of those reasons were for knowledge, use, and wanting to follow the footsteps of other hams.

When repeaters identify, a lot if not the majority of repeaters, use Morse Code to identify, even if they have voice identification enabled. Well not knowing code makes it exteremly difficult (more like impossible) to copy who the repeater licensee actually is. Knowing how to copy, and subsequently receive, Morse Code gives an operator the ability to copy the repeater which they happen to be monitoring.

Another practical use of code is DX’ing. A lot of DX stations will utilize Morse Code for making long distance DX contacts with other amateur radio stations. All too often I have been voice DX’ing and while generally able to break into a pile up, on the CW side there are not a lot of stations to break up in order to QSO with that hard to reach station.

Above all else is not wanting to be “that ham”. While respected as an amateur radio operator, I never had to learn code like other more mature hams had to do. When I began studying for my license I did after the code requirements were aboloshed. Side note: the reasoning for abolishing the Morse Code requirements was to generate more interst into the hobby, as it was experiencing a decline in use and licensees. But to set the example and follow what others before myself did, I am taking the opportunity to learn Morse Code.

I have found a few good websites online that have information to assist with learning Morse Code. One happens to be The Ham Whisperer where he has videos that teaches the Technician, General, and Extra courses, and Morse Code. I strongly reccomend The Ham Whisperer, and other links found on the N2AL website Under Training Materials & Links.

Below is a picture from a Pinterest article I found. I pinned it to my N2AL Amateur Radio Board, and wanted to share it with others taking the endeavor to learn Morse Code.

Best wishes for those studying to learn Morse Code, and thanks for taking the time to read my blog! If I can assist you with this endeavor please send me a messag

N2AL | Amateur Extra Class Operator

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Tail of the Dragon

Challenge Accepted – Learning Morse Code

This website is devoted to the furtherance of Amateur Radio by my own experiences as an F.C.C. licensed operator, and from other operators and sources devoted to electronics, computer science, and radio-communications.